The front page is dominated by escalating battles over Prohibition as 'dry leaders' prepare to force a showdown in the Senate over tightening the Volstead Act. The 'wets' are fighting back with amendments calling for a national referendum on the liquor question, while protests continue over President Coolidge's controversial order allowing state and local police to act as federal enforcement agents. Meanwhile, a deadly bombing in Michigan has shocked the nation — Asa R. Bartlett, a Ku Klux Klan leader and township constable, was arrested for a bomb attack that killed three people, including a local supervisor and his daughter at Three Lakes Tavern. Elsewhere, a missing schooner bound for a Greenland expedition has the scientific community worried — the Effie M. Morrissey, commanded by famed Arctic explorer Captain Robert A. Bartlett (who sailed with Admiral Peary), is a week overdue in New York. The vessel was to carry the American Museum of Natural History expedition to collect specimens of narwhales, walruses, and musk oxen. Local news includes a Maine Central Railroad freight derailment near Augusta and Crown Prince Gustavus and Princess Louise of Sweden making an official visit to Washington.
This page captures America in 1926 at a crossroads over Prohibition, the grand social experiment that was increasingly dividing the nation. The fierce Senate battle reflects growing public dissatisfaction with the 'noble experiment' — by this point, organized crime was flourishing, enforcement was inconsistent, and many Americans wanted a voice in whether to continue the ban on alcohol. The KKK connection to the Michigan bombing highlights the Klan's peak influence in the mid-1920s, when it had expanded beyond the South to dominate local politics in many communities. The presence of Swedish royalty in Washington shows America's growing international prominence, while the scientific expedition to Greenland represents the era's spirit of exploration and discovery that would soon culminate in Lindbergh's transatlantic flight.
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